„Mossy green traces of plants that once grew tall draw their lines on the black, undulating exterior wall of the Simultanhalle.* Its statics seem to be holding on tightly to the aluminium-like plasters with which some parts of the wall have been repaired. A temporary solution – now in the process of decay. Some are watching it with concern, while others are waiting impatiently.
Visible and yet hidden, in the sprawling green of the surrounding bushes and trees, in front of the black exterior wall of the building, a three-metre-high figure shimmers metallically: Two conical, semicircular aluminium funnels with their openings facing each other. On their surfaces, both inside and out, the surroundings appear in distorted reflections. In their statics and size, they seem to give way to fluidity in the play of light and shadow, almost dissolving into it. The space between them and their diameter alone is just wide enough to accommodate a medium-sized body.** Do they serve here as a shelter, a shield or even as a monumental mouthpiece?
From beneath the large metallic figure, from the green of the surrounding bushes and the exterior wall of the building, black soil pours into the courtyard. Soft on the first step – leaves marks, hardens with repeated steps. As a material and habitat in which new life continually emerges from the processes of decay: Black Soil. A stranger here, at home there. A place where territorial borders and affiliations are negotiated: Black Soil. Where we came from, where we go and what we become. Loosely thrown hints do not help with orientation and localisation – on the contrary, a confusion spreads through history(s).“

In „songs of conditions“, Olga Holzschuh creates an installative embodiment of quiet melancholy, in which the political and the personal intermingle through questions of loss, emptiness, belonging and the dealing with it.

The performative reading on 14th of September, due to the finissage of Simultanhallenprojekte 2024, offers further insights into the work’s multiple layers.

EXHIBITION: 1.6 – 14.9.2024 / Simultanhalle, Volkhovener Weg 209, 50765 Cologne (Germany)
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*Built in 1979, the building was originally intended as an architectural model/test building for the new Museum Ludwig in Cologne city centre. When the project was completed in 1983, the temporary building was to be demolished.

**cf. Patrizia Dander, „Feeling blue“, in: hold on, Olga Holzschuh, Distanz Publisher, 2023

Work details:
songs of conditions, 2024
Black soil, aluminium, copper
Installation: dimensions variable,
aluminium sculptures: 2-pcs. / each 300 x 70 x 35 cm,
copper objects: 4 – pcs. variable size, max. 25 x 10 cm

All copper objects pointing to the East.
They point the way to the geographical centre of Europe (once in the Transcarpathian region of present-day western Ukraine)
& to the largest deposit of black soil.